Dear Parents, Carers and Friends,

Welcome back after the October break! We had an extremely busy and enjoyable first term and

are looking forward to the exciting learning activities planned between now and Christmas. We

hope to share as much of what we do with you as possible through our newsletter. Please be sure

to 'like' our page on Facebook (Lawfield Primary School) or follow us on Twitter (@LawfieldPS)

to keep up to date with events, news and examples of our children's learning You can also visit

our school website at: http://edublog.mgfl.net/lawfieldps/.

A fantastic first term! Lawfield Primary School

Dates for your Diary

Wednesday, 28th October 10.45-11.45amCommunity Cafe hosted by P7 and P7/6in P7 Atrium

Friday, 6th November Bronze AwardPresentation Assembly

Thursday 19th November 6.30pm Parent

Council Event Beetle Drive

Monday, 30th November, Tuesday, 1st andWednesday 2nd December NativityPerformance by Nursery and lower

school

Monday, 30th November – P4-7 pupils tripto Brunton Theatre to see Cinderella

Pantomime

Thursday, 3rd December 6.30pm-8.30pm – Christmas Fayre

Saturday, 5th December Father'sChristmas Show

Monday, 7th December – P1-3 pupils trip toOdeon Fort Kinnaird to see 'Home'

Friday, 18th December – Term EndsSCHOOL HOLIDAYS

Tuesday, 5th January – In service day

Staff Resume

Wednesday, 6th January – Pupils resume

Newsletter 2 Newsletter 2

October 2015 October 2015

Whole School Fun Day!

Staff, pupils and visitors had a tremendous time at our Fun Day

back in September to celebrate their hard work and achievements.

All pupils worked exceptionally hard to complete a range of tasks

and challenges which demonstrated their capacity to be successful

learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective

contributors. Pupils earned stamps in the Learner Passports which

they were then able to use as tokens at our celebration event.

Feedback from classes showed some firm favourites at the Fun Day

included animal handling, face painting, photo booth, ice cream and

the inflatable assault course! We extend our thanks to the parent

helpers who assisted on the day. A short video of all the fun can be

viewed on Twitter.

The children will continue to work hard to use and apply their skills

across the school session. Our focus this term is considering what

makes a responsbile citizen in the classroom, playground, dining hall

and within the wider community. Staff will be working hard with

pupils to recognise how and when their good choices show they are

being a responsible citizen. Please be sure to pass on any 'good

deeds' or sensible choices you see outwith the school so we can

share these achievements with the pupils.

Community CafePupils of P7 and P7/6 invite parents, carers, extended family members and local community members

to join them at Lawfield's first Community Cafe on Wednesday, 28th October in the P7 Atrium. The

cafe will be open and serving a range of refreshments between 10.45-11.45am. All welcome.

Super Computers!Primary 7, P7/6 and P6 recently

returned from a trip to Mayfield

Library to participate in Super

Computer workshops. The children

completed a range of activities

includ ing sort ing objects and

designing animals to race using the

w o r l d ' s s m a l l e s t c o m p u t e r s ,

Raspberry Pi's!

The children also enjoyed becoming

library members, browsed the

bookshelves and even loaned out

books to take back to school!

Mayfield Library run a range of free

community events for all. Energise

and transform your day with a unique

smoothie bike experience on Monday,

23rd November between 3.30 and

5pm!

Health Care Plans

Does your child have a health condition, medication or

require a care plan in school? Please ensure completed

medical forms are returned to office along with

required medication. This is to ensure we have up to

date and accurate information. Please be reminded

pupils cannot participate in class trips or outings

without the medication they require. If you would like

to discuss your child's health needs or review their

plan, please contact the office to meet with Mrs

McPherson.

School Attendance During the course of the last school year (to end June 2015) Lawfield had the second poorest

attendance rate in Midlothian - this was not just as a result of illness but much of it was due to

families taking holidays during term time.  There was also a very high number of children arriving late

to school.  We would like to turn that around this year and improve Lawfield's attendance rate.  We

are happy to work with all families to ensure that children's attendance at school is as high as

possible.  Miss Richardson, Head Teacher, is working very closely with Angela Ross, our Education

Welfare Officer, who will also be helping to maximise Lawfield pupils' attendance in school by working

with families and carers as well as the school itself.  If you know that attendance for your child is

dropping and you would like to request support, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We will do

whatever we can to help and, if we cannot help directly, we will probably know where help is available.

The important thing is to ask us.  A big part of this focus on improving attendance will also be

requesting that families do not take their children out of school for holidays during term time.  This is

proven to have a significantly negative impact on children's learning and we would strongly advise

against holidays during term time. Thank you in advance for all your support in our efforts to raise

attendance! Let's be the best in Midlothian!

Artistic Talents!

Pupils from P2, P3 and P4 classes have wowed us with

their amazing models of the characters from The

Enormous Crocodile! Part of the children's home

learning tasks included designing and creating 3D

models. All the models have been showcased in our

school assembly and we particularly enjoyed sampling

the homemade crocodile soup! Keep up the amazing

work!

Animal Zoo!

We have been inundated with animals in

our school!

All pupils have benefitted from the opportunity

to discover, handle and experience a range of

reptiles, insects and furry friends! These were

extremely enjoyable and benefitted our pupils

immensely.

A special thanks goes to McSence who very

generously funded the workshops delivered by

Animal Zoo. Miss Richardson proudly accepted a

cheque on behalf of the school from the group's

award presentation.

The Mayfield Community Self-Employed Collective

Exercise (McSence) are a community business and

registered charity who have five trading

companies. The charity distribute back to the

community in the form of grants.

Musical Talent!

Mr Alexander and Mrs Ross are working hard with the

P5-7 Choir group who are sounding fantastic!

The whole school have also been enjoying learning and

performing new songs during Assembly.

Primary 6 are demonstrating skill and talent during

their guitar lessons and hope to perform soon at our

Musical Showcase event. Many pupils have also

received new brass instruments. We are looking

forward to hearing them play soon.

The Parent Council have worked exceptionally hard to

support the school and improve their provision for

music this session. We would like to thank them for

their hard work and continued contributions to the

school.

Science Club!

Budding scientists from Primary 2 and 3 have

begun to take part in Lawfield's Wednesday

Lunchtime Science Club, investigating topics

related to biology, physics and chemistry. The

children will have the opportunity to explore

living and non-living things around the school and

take part in a variety of experiments and

investigations relating to the curriculum. The

block will last for 4 weeks and will be led by Miss

Gilchrist, Mr McNish and Miss Aitken.The club

will then be opened up to pupils for each year

group at various times across the year.

Last week we were

investigating mini

beasts

Road Safety

At Lawfield Primary the health and wellbeing of our pupils is our top priority. We are

working hard alongside parents, carers and Midlothian Council to ensure pupils are able

to arrive safely to school and have some serious concerns about vehicle access during

these times. We continue to ask for your support and understanding that there are

many people entering and leaving our school car park at drop off and pick up times.

Ideally, we'd like to encourage pupils to walk, cycle or bring their scooter to school

whenever possible. Storage is available for both bikes and scooters. We do however

recognise that for some people this is not possible. If you are driving to school, please

consider Park and Stride – parking approximately 5 minutes walk from school – allowing

your child to benefit from a short, healthy walk and not adding to traffic congestion in

front of our school. There is plenty of free on street parking.

We will be working with pupils over the coming term to plan their routes to school. Our

pupil entrance gates are accessed from Ashgrove or from Langlaw Lane. Please note:–

PEDESTRIANS SHOULD NOT BE ACCESSING SCHOOL FROM THE FRONT VEHICLE

ENTRANCE and should be using the public pavement instead of crossing through the car

park.

If you drive and cannot Park and Stride but need to access school grounds, please use

our parking or drop-off area immediately to the left of entrance, signed 'Parent

Parking'. Remember, if parking, please use a bay. The drop-off area is for drop off

only, not parking and waiting. The 'Staff Car Park' to the right of the entrance will be

coned off during drop off and pick up times and only accessible to those requiring

access to Disabled Parking bays.

We thank you for your anticipated support and keeping our pupils safe. Please see

below the Recommended Route Map (produced when the school opened and available to

view on the school website) showing the pupils access gates and the safest ways to

enter school and discuss this with your child.

Hi-Viz Day!

Well done to all who partcipated in

High-Viz Day!

The purpose of the day was to

raise awareness of wearing bright,

Reflective, flourescent colours to

ensure you are safe and seen on

dark winter nights. Rosie Fearon

from iBike was a guest speaker at

our Assembly and was so impressed

by our outfits she even awarded us

some prizes!

As winter draws nearer, please be

extra cautious and observant as

children cross the roads on their

walk to and from school.

PARK SMART